Researchers from Japan and Canada Develop Digital Blockchain-Based Court

Economists Hitoshi MATSUSHIMA from the University of Tokyo and Shunya NODA from the University of British Columbia are working together on the so-called digital courtroom. It is planned to use the digital court to resolve disputes around auctions, business contracts and sales, reducing the costs of a traditional legal court.

Hitoshi Matsushima explained how it works:

«We designed a digital court which identifies and punishes parties who deviate from legal obligations such as commercial activities, but could potentially be any kind of agreement. On suspected violation of some agreement, those involved post their opinions to this digital court. The court algorithmically aggregates the parties’ opinions and judges who violated their agreement. If the digital court judges that a party violated the agreement, the party is fined by withholding a deposit made during the initial agreement».

New technologies and the blockchain sometimes receive bad press, but Matsushima added that this is a challenge for every new technology. If we want to adopt a new-century economy model, innovators must work closely with regulators to find a solution that is comfortable for everyone.

Last January, it was reported that the Aragon court opened a decentralized online court to remove barriers between national and international jurisdiction in dispute resolution.

Image courtesy of Cryptoknowmics